Longer than a Raiders-Broncos finals match, with three times as much head butting, it’s our 2025 NRL Finals Week 2 Tips Predictions & Stats Preview.
Our NRL Finals edition of our weekly tips blab is a quick preview glance for each match, a bunch of barely interesting stats, a pinch of opinion, and some bonus finals and 2025 season stats. It’s all you can eat NRL stats.
2025 NRL Finals Week 2 Tips
Here are our tips for the week ahead. How did we get to here? By going through all the visuals and stats below.
CANBERRA by 1
PENRITH by 16
2025 NRL Finals Week 2 Tips Match Thoughts
Looking for a cheat sheet for the weekend’s upcoming games?
What about some finals stats?
Or some barely interesting facts?
Here’s as much information that we could cram into one size fits all visual.
Finals record goes back to 1998.
SAT 7:50pm – CANBERRA v CRONULLA @ Canberra Stadium
Bulldogs have lost their last five finals games with a last win in 2015.
But the Bulldogs have won the only Finals game v Penrith at the Olympic Stadium.
Excluding Grand Finals the Bulldogs Finals record v Sydney teams at the Olympic Stadium is W4 L3.
Bulldogs have lost their last three Sunday finals games at the Olympic Stadium.
Whilst it helps to win a lot of Grand Finals, Penrith are still W9 L1 on a Sunday in Finals.
And W10 L2 at the Olympic Stadium.
Penrith have won their last three away Finals games.
Penrith’s 72% win rate at the Olympic Stadium since 2020 is higher than the Bulldogs’ 48%. Since 1998 for no good reason it is Bulldogs 54% and Penrith 47%.
Penrith have won eight of their last nine v Bulldogs, with the infamous 16 player resting game the only loss.
Penrith lead the H2H v bulldogs at the Olympic Stadium since 1998 by nine wins to eight.
Penrith have won nine Sunday games in a row, and have won all Sunday games this season.
Penrith have also won the last five games on a Sunday v Bulldogs with a last win in 2006.
Penrith have won six in a row away to Sydney sides on a Sunday. And their last five on a Sunday away to anyone.
Bulldogs are W6 L1 on a Sunday.
2025 NRL Finals Week 2 Stats
Answering the big questions ahead of the NRL Finals starting. Which teams have done best against their finals opponents. And so much more.
Want more NRL information than just the draw, results for the first week of the NRL Finals. Then you are in the right place and the right time with our NRL Finals Week 1 Results Stats Summary & Team of the Week for the weekend that was.
Each week during the season we have compiled a wide range of stats from the latest weekend of NRL action plus the best 2025 NRL Season Stats to help you to the top of the tipping competition, land a few responsible winners or even make your Supercoach team better.
This week we have focused on the Finals stats, plus combined our stats summary with the usual NRL Team of the Week for your one-stop NRL Finals Week 1 Results Shop.
And it’s all stats, and never Slats. Never.
2025 NRL Finals Week 1 Results and Match Summaries
Want or need a quick summary of every game from last weekend? Well here they all are in all their summary glory.
12 September, 19:50
Melbourne 26 Bulldogs 18
13 September, 16:05
Warriors 8 Penrith 24
13 September, 19:50
Cronulla 20 Roosters 10
14 September, 16:05
Canberra 28 Brisbane 29
2025 NRL Finals Week 1 Results Comparison
A quick check to see if this weekend’s 2025 NRL Finals Week 1 team stats hold up against each team’s overall average for the 2025 season before the finals started.
2025 NRL Finals Week 1 Team of the Week
Our usual NRL Team of the Week piece has moved in with the Stats Summary for the NRL Finals Series.
Same calculations, and in a few cases, the same players.
But above all, we use various stats to find the best of the best from the weekend that was.
Here is a compilation of the best players from Week 1 of the NRL Finals.
2025 NRL Finals Week 1 Results Stats Extra
Here are the choicest cuts of barely interesting stats from the first week of the NRL Finals.
Melbourne have won all seven home finals at AAMI Park on a Friday.
Melbourne have won ten of their last 11 v Bulldogs and Melbourne are W7 L1 v Bulldogs on a Friday and won all three Friday games at AAMI Park.
Bulldogs have lost their last four Friday games.
The finals record between Penrith and the Warriors is now 4-0.
Penrith have won 13 finals games in a row with a last loss in 2021.
Penrith (W5 D1) are unbeaten this season away from home on a Saturday. Including two wins now in Auckland. Scoring no less than 24 points in that run.
Cronulla’s win over the Roosters broke the drought against them in Finals since 1998 (previous H2H 0-3). And it broke a run of eight Saturday finals losses in a row.
Cronulla are the form team of the competition since Origin finished with a 89% win rate.
Brisbane broke a run of nine finals losses away from Suncorp Stadium. This season though, Brisbane have won five of their last six away from home.
2025 NRL Season Stats Summary
Do you need NRL 2025 Season stats, or just want 2025 NRL Season stats?
Note: these figures DO NOT include any finals games.
Most of the big football competitions are underway for their new seasons, but that doesn’t mean other football isn’t happening and isn’t great, and that doesn’t mean all the games need a winner and a loser. They say there can only be winners and losers in sport, but of course they’re wrong and they’re fools, there’s always the draw, and who doesn’t love a draw where everyone wins. Those winners include canny punters who look for value, and The Gurgler website is always happy to help with opinion and stats, so welcome to our 2025-26 Season Football Draws Selections for 12 to 15 September 2025.
Our resident draw expert Frankington Stanley runs his keen eye over the many football divisions around the world to find the best draws for you. He’s sort of like the John West of Football draws, he hates Dog Salmon and lop sided fixtures.
Frankington Stanley is not fussy, no country or continent is out of bounds, and the more obscure the better. And some of them are quite obscure. They don’t even feature on the Who Scored website.
So grab an oversized spoon for another weekly serving of the finest Football Draw tips from all over the world, where The Gurgler and Frankington Stanley take the stale out of stalemate.
Football Draws Selections – Best of the Week
Tunisia – Ligue 1 – 2025/2026 – JS Kairouanaise v Avenir de La Marsa
THURSDAY 11 SEPTEMBER 4PM
Both of these teams come into this game fresh off a last start draw. And identical records to start the season – W1 D1 L2.
Football Draws Selections – Premier League Special
WEST HAM v SPURS
SATURDAY 13 SEPTEMBER 5:30PM
The last three games at West Ham between these sides ended 1-1.
Football Draws Selections – Other Solid Choices
Qatar – Stars League – 2025/2026 – Al-Shamal v Al-Arabi
SATURDAY 13 SEPTEMBER 4PM
The last game at Al-Shamal ended in a draw. And the game at Al-Arabi before that.
Algeria -Ligue Professionnelle 1 – 2025/2026 – Ben Aknoun v Paradou AC
FRIDAY 12 SEPTEMBER 4PM
The most recent game between these sides ended 0-0. Neither of these teams have won a game yet in the early part of the Algerian season. Both have a draw each too.
Croatia – 2. Division – 2025/2026 – Hrvace v Karlovac
SATURDAY 13 SEPTEMBER 4:30PM
Neither of these teams have drawn a game in the early part of the season, so that means one is certainly due.
Angrier than a room full of Fox League writers, ducking for cover like a Melbourne Storm Assistant Coach, drinking out of more toilets than any Bronco star could ever hope for, wondering what he’s done wrong not to be a current NRL mascot, playing out of position for the good of the team, getting dropped for the finals series due to discipline breaches and getting the full support of the board, it’s time for the weekly Rugby League rant of The Gurgler’s NRL Donkey, who provides his NRL Donkey’s 2025 NRL Finals Week 1 Expert Tips as well as offers an alternative, slightly unhinged view full of sass of the world of rugby league and beyond for another week.
The NRL Donkey’s 2025 NRL Finals Week 1 Weekly Rant
So we are left with the NRL’s best of the best for 2025, and it is hard to argue really. The next best team in 9th was the Dolphins, who a month ago had the chance to beat all three of their nearest top eight contenders and lost by a combined 70-160. I mean, that 70 over three games might win you one under normal circumstance, but the 160 conceded in three games will rightly win you zero games.
That’s not to say the Dolphins didn’t do well in 2025. Their injury list filled an RSL courtesy bus for most of the season, and they lost their first four games. But genuine excuses aside, they are next best, so it’s hard to argue that the top eight isn’t the top eight.
Especially when you look lower than the Dolphins and see that most of the teams have either been last at some stage in 2025 or have players or coaches that are unlikeable. In the case of Manly and the Dragons it’s both. The NRL’s top eight rightly doesn’t reward too much mediocrity. Which is why I hope there’s no wildcard week anytime soon.
If anything, the top eight should be tightened up. If a team wins less than 50% of their games, then you can’t qualify for the finals. If that means teams get a free week off because there aren’t eight finals teams then so be it. Why reward mediocrity.
But onto season’s finals, and the great thing is that the bottom half of the finals looks almost better than the top half, it feels genuinely open.
Open like a toilet seat filled with nourishing water.
The Broncos looked cooked before their game against Melbourne, who they rarely beat, with Walsh’s toilet water drinking antics on social media, injuries, and Gehamat Shibasaki taking the last four letters of his surname too literally. But win in style they did, so what would I know.
Then for Reece Walsh to have a post try celebration involving toilet water was genius, and expected. But some in the crowd were ready too with toilet paraphernalia.
Can you imagine the rush at various Bunnings around Brisbane this week, and next, for toilet brushes, toilet seats, Toilet Ducks, plungers and more. Conservative calculations by my data team estimates that Reece Walsh’s antics will bring in $25M into the local economy. That more than covers the Broncos wages for an entire season. Not sure about boats though.
Someone who does know boats, and it isn’t that guy from King Gee ad back in the day on TV, is Greg Norman.
Why do you ask I mention Greg Norman in the middle of a rugby league column. Firstly, I love Greg, secondly he has brough out a NRL Finals Preview for everyone to enjoy.
Shameless plugs aside, I kind of hope that Canberra win the comp from here. Not that I have anything against Penrith, Melbourne or the Roosters. Ok, so I do have something against the Roosters and I really hope they don’t win. But it would be nice to see a new team win, and strangely (not Ethan) it’d be nice to see Ricky Stuart happy.
You could imagine that a premiership may not even make Craig Bellamy happy. Sadly we won’t get to see that happening this season in my opinion. Although, the silver lining of the Storm not winning the comp is the Bellamy Blow-ups. Which are always funny.
What isn’t funny is not getting 4/4 this weekend. So my NRL Finals Week 1 Expert Tips are below for your consideration.
Excuse me while I take a little sip then log off.
The NRL Donkey’s 2025 NRL Finals Week 1 Expert Tips
FRIDAY 7:50PM – MELBOURNE v BULLDOGS – AAMI PARK
There’s always one NRL finals game where the fans of all the other clubs hope both sides bash each other up good and proper for their own amusement/gain for their finals team. This appears to be the one. The only things that will hit harder is the atmosphere in the Melbourne coaches box if the Storm are going badly. Can’t see either of these winning the title. Which will be funny for different reasons.
Melbourne by 16
SATURDAY 4:05PM – WARRIORS v PENRITH – MT SMART STADIUM
Everyone’s second side in the finals, it is at least funny that Channel Nein have to go to New Zealand to cover this one. And you do have to wonder if the Wahs aren’t your adopted team for the finals, what is wrong with you. How anyone can dislike the Warriors is beyond me. But maybe that’s the hate-filled post-Trump world we live in these days. Shame the Wahs are coming up against a rested Penrith who haven’t lost a finals game in a million years.
Penrith by 12
SATURDAY 7:50PM – SHARKS v ROOSTERS – SHARK PARK
First of all, very surprised this clash isn’t being played at 4pm on the Sunday. You can imagine Rabs would refuse to leave the couch to do this one back in the day until it was moved to a Sunday afternoon so he could argue with Gus Gould about stuff. And who could blame him for wanting the shift? It’s not one to get too excited about. Well, that’s not exactly true. The Roosters winger Marky Mark provides some entertainment, and an angry Spencer Leniu never disappoints. But like most sharks in the wild the Cronulla Sharks have gone under the radar over the past few months. But like sharks in the wild do tend to prey on weaker rivals. At least the Cronulla Sharks will have Nicho Hynes, rugby league’s nicest man. And it is probably that title that saved him from a week or two off with a hip drop from last weekend. Either way for Cronulla – Hynes can lead them to victory or be at the front of the queue for fans blame.
Sharks by 2
SUNDAY 4:05 – CANBERRA v BRISBANE – CANBERRA STADIUM
This could be a Grand Final preview, which would make a lot of people unhappy. Channel Nein for not having a Sydney team. Sydney fans for not having a Sydney team. Craig Bellamy would be angry. In general. Victorian fans wouldn’t really care, and they call it rugby anyway. Bob Katter could potentially hate it too, but a lot of things annoy Bob these days. Shame, as Bob is pretty funny. Penrith fans would hate it, as they would miss that Penrith winning the comp from outside the top four narrative. But a Canberra-Broncos GF could be very entertaining. If the Broncos can get over their atrocious away finals record. Which they won’t.
The regular NRL season has been run and won for another year, with Minor Premiers and final eight teams showered with praise and losers taunted and booed until throats and fingers are sore on keyboards across social media. Especially Newcastle. But the NRL Finals can’t get underway until someone special has had their final say on who wins it all. Aside from Greg himself. So for your rugby league pleasure, we present the AI Greg Norman 2025 NRL Finals Predictions.
The Gurgler website in general will drown you with stats and facts ahead of the finals, so why not let AI Greg Norman, courtesy of the Grok AI generation give you the full pictorial preview of his AI Greg Norman 2025 NRL Finals Predictions.
Note that sometimes what Grok gives and what we ask for are two different things. And those wonderful mistakes will often be included in the AI Greg Norman NRL Reviews.
AI Greg Norman 2025 NRL Finals Predictions
Greg gives you a pictorial on each teams 2025 Finals, plus a little side commentary.
OUT FIRST WEEK – WARRIORS / ROOSTERS
AI Greg asks “Why Did the Chicken (Rooster) cross the road?”. He replies to himself “To get to the pub across the road for Mad Monday.”
AI Greg respects the Warriors 2025 efforts and their fans, he even tried a bit of tribal artwork to get into the spirit. But sadly effort, fans and a buff, shirtless Greg won’t help them beat the Panthers who have won so many finals games in a row.
OUT SECOND WEEK – BRISBANE / BULLDOGS
That mid-year signing of Lachlan Galvin will see the Bulldogs go out with consecutive losses, and an even longer consecutive wondering of what might have been if the team was left un-tinkered.
No matter how much toilet water one drinks, the fact is the Broncos are hopeless on the road in finals, so will lose week one. And week two when they face Penrith.
OUT THIRD WEEK – MELBOURNE / CRONULLA
For all the lightning and thunder of the storm, and any storm for that matter, Melbourne aren’t playing very well. And not even the wizard of Craig Bellamy or Greg can save them from an earlier than hoped elimination in 2025.
There’s barely anything on earth more dangerous than a Shark. Or magnificent in the form of AI Greg Norman aka The Great White Shark. Cronulla will eat up their first two finals games, but get found out with a week to go, when their quota of beating better teams runs out.
RUNNER UP – PENRITH
Another golden point loss to Canberra puts an end to their glorious golden era.
2025 NRL PREMIERS – CANBERRA
There’s barely anything more manly than a Viking or Greg himself. In fact, either of those two are more manly than NRL side Manly. Combined they are an unstoppable force who will combine for one of the more unexpected NRL Premierships.
Worth slightly less than an Isak transfer, scoring more than Aston Villa, and less point to us than Wolves, it’s our 2025-26 Premier League Predictions Week 4.
Each gameweek in this 2025-26 Premier League season we offer up a stat filled prediction preview, with some barely interesting stats and visuals, just enough to bluff your way through various tipping competitions or betting shops.
We also attempted to guess the final Premier League ladder in advance. Follow the link to that here.
2025-26 Premier League Predictions Week 4
ARSENAL 1 NOTTINGHAM FOREST 1 NEWCASTLE 2 WOLVES 0 CRYSTAL PALACE 1 SUNDERLAND 1 EVERTON 1 ASTON VILLA 1 FULHAM 2 LEEDS 0 BOURNEMOUTH 1 BRIGHTON 2 WEST HAM 1 TOTTENHAM 1 BRENTFORD 0 CHELSEA 2 BURNLEY 0 LIVERPOOL 4 MAN CITY 2 MAN UTD 1
Season Progress
RATING: Lower midfield form, for now. Board getting itchy feet.
Barely Interesting Stats – 2025-26 Premier League Predictions Week 4 – Stats and Thoughts
Help yourself to a buffet of barely interesting stats, quick one liners and more to help pick a winner.
BEST OF WEEK 4 STATS
Sunderland have drawn level with Southampton’s win tally from last season.
Just three teams remain unbeaten after three rounds. Last season seven teams were unbeaten after three rounds.
Leeds’ 1.7 shots on target per game is one whole shot on target fewer than the next worst.
Liverpool have won all four games v Burnley on a Sunday.
SAT 12:30PM – ARSENAL v NOTTINGHAM FOREST
Ange arrives just in time to save Nottingham…..Um….didn’t think they were going that badly. Oh well, wonder if they’ll take a Europa League title and 17th. Probably. It helps he used to be a Spurs manager for their first game v Arsenal. Certainly turned this average sounding fixture into something slightly more interesting.
Nottingham Forest’s last win at Arsenal predates the Premier League (1989 3-1). The record is W10 D4 to Arsenal.
Arsenal have won their last six games at home and by the combined total of 19-2.
At either ground on a Saturday, these are the six most recent results (most recent game first) – LLWLLW. This pattern means Forest will win.
Nottingham Forest are one of five teams yet to keep a clean sheet.
SAT 3PM – NEWCASTLE v WOLVES
With Isak now officially gone Newcastle can contrate on winning games, and what timing to play someone who hasn’t got a point yet.
Newcastle have won the last three games v Wolves and are unbeaten in seven games (W4 D3).
Newcastle have won the last four games v Wolves at home. Including the last two games by 3-0.
Three of the last five games between the sides on a Saturday have been draws.
SAT 3PM – CRYSTAL PALACE v SUNDERLAND
Anyone picking this as 6th v 8th during the season would have been laughed out of the pub. Sunderland have equaled Southampton’s win tally from last season.
Sunderland have won their last three games at Crystal Palace.
The home side (either team) have failed to win any of the last seven games (D2 L5).
SAT 3PM – EVERTON v ASTON VILLA
You’d think that if Everton had the same record as Sunderland after three games that they’d both be in the bottom three, but here they are 5th and 6th. Aston Villa will wake up soon and score you’d think.
Aston Villa (W9 L3) are undefeated in their last 12 games v Everton.
It’s W4 D2 at Everton for the last six games too.
Aston Villa have won six in a row v Everton on Saturday at any ground.
Despite scoring no goals, Aston Villa are averaging the same amount of shots per game as Liverpool.
SAT 3PM – FULHAM v LEEDS
The most Saturday 3pm clash of the week.
Fulham have won five in a row at home on a Saturday v Leeds.
Leeds’ 1.7 shots on target per game is one whole shot on target fewer than the next worst.
SAT 3PM – BOURNEMOUTH v BRIGHTON
Two surprise winners over big clubs last weekend for perennial Davids (v Goliath not the nude statue).
Brighton have won five of their last six games v Bournemouth.
Brighton have won the last two games at Bournemouth on a Saturday.
SAT 5:30PM – WEST HAM v TOTTENHAM
A very interesting London derby indeed. West Ham’s win last weekend lifts them from busted-arse manager-sacking territory to merely ordinary. Spurs lost at home to Bournemouth, which a lot fans enjoyed pointing out Spursy things.
The last three games at West Ham v Spurs have ended up 1-1.
But none of those games were on a Saturday. Because Spurs have won the last four games at West Ham on a Saturday.
Spurs have won six of the last seven games v West Ham on a Saturday at any ground.
SAT 8PM – BRENTFORD v CHELSEA
A late night kickoff for a mildly interesting West London derby.
The last three games between these sides at Brentford ended in a draw.
Brentford last beat Chelsea at home in 1938. It has been D4 L3 since.
But, Brentford are unbeaten in their last three games on a Saturday v Chelsea at either ground.
SUN 2PM – BURNLEY v LIVERPOOL
Liverpool’s team is now worth more than the town of Burnley itself. So Liverpool should win this by 24.
Liverpool have won five in a row v Burnley.
Liverpool have won six in a row at Burnley.
Liverpool have won the only two games at Burnley on a Sunday.
Liverpool have won the only two games at Liverpool on a Sunday too.
SUN 4:30PM – MAN CITY v MAN UTD
Just one win each for the Manchester sides heading into this derby, which probably isn’t as interesting as most will say it is.
Man Utd won 2-1 at Man City last season.
The other game last season was a draw.
Man Utd’s 19.3 shots per game is nearly five more than the next best team.
2025-26 Premier League Season Stats
Each week we’ll bring you the best of the stats we can be bothered compiling to help you agree or disagree with our selections.
Been too distracted by how many players aren’t playing this weekend? Do you need some last-minute NRL tipping advice? Or simply want something else to blame when the tips go wrong? Either way, saddle up for The Gurgler’s NRL Finals Week 1 Ratings and Late Mail.
In a new additional to our stable of NRL stats and tipping products, we have used all the stats we have, smashed them against each other like atoms, and come up with a H2H rating.
It includes this year’s form with a bias because it is this year, but we don’t forget historic stats of the H2H against this week’s opponents, and the ground and day the teams are playing on, plus their record v top and lower half teams.
Then slice up the scores out of 100% between the two sides. The bigger the percentage, the more likely to win.
2025 NRL Finals Week 1 Ratings
Here are the H2H ratings and winners for the second last weekend of the regular season.
Melbourne aren’t going as well as they usually would this time of year, with two losses in the last two weeks showing them up poorly. But they do have stats on their side.
Melbourne have won 14 of their last 16 homes games on a Friday. The two losses were against the Roosters. Melbourne have won nine of their last 10 v Bulldogs. Melbourne are W6 L1 v Bulldogs on a Friday and won both Friday games at AAMI Park. Bulldogs have lost their last three Friday games.
As for finals Melbourne have won all six home finals at AAMI Park on a Friday.
But the Bulldogs lead the H2H in finals v Storm, and the Storm’s finals record overall at AMMI Park is almost underwhelming. Melbourne’s finals record at AAMI Park on any day is W13 L6, with only one of those losses coming against a Sydney team – Bulldogs.
Bulldogs fans probably wish their team had followed others with mass resting, especially since they lost last week’s game anyway. Marcelo Montoya and Bronson Xerri are out this week. Jacob Kiraz is named and the mail is he will play. The halves remain unchanged giving everyone more room to blame Lachlan Galvin for everything, but Toby Sexton is set to push Red Mahoney out of the side all together. Sexton could play halfback, Galvin for five eighth and Burton into the centres. Maybe. Who knows.
More injury misery for the Storm with Jahrome Hughes and Ryan Papenhuyzen out, and Nelson Asofa-Solomona earned himself a ban. At least Harry Grant returns and Jack Howarth is in the reserves and may play.
SATURDAY 4:05PM – WARRIORS v PENRITH – MT SMART STADIUM
Great to have the Warriors in the finals and a finals game in New Zealand for the game of rugby league, and to annoy Channel Nein who usually avoid the place.
The concerns here are the Warriors recent home form, and playing the most successful finals team of the modern era. Sorry Craig Bellamy, please don’t hit us.
To Mt Smart, and the Warriors have won only two of their last seven home games this season. Plus Penrith have won their last two visits to Mt Smart Stadium and overall it’s Penrith have won nine of the last ten games v Warriors.
As for finals, the Warriors have lost all three finals clashes v Penrith and have won just one of their last six finals games. But some silver linings coming…..The Warriors have won their last two finals games at Mt Smart Stadium with an overall record there of W3 L1 and Penrith’s finals record away at non-Sydney venues is W3 L4. But they have won their last three.
However Penrith have won 12 finals games in a row with a last loss in 2021, so that sorts that then.
Team news sees key players Brian To’o and Liam Martin return and Penrith hooker Mitch Kenny out and replaced by Luke Sommerton. The return of To’o sees Paul Alamoti keep his spot over Tom Jenkins. Warriors centre Rocco Berry is out so Kurt Capewell fills in again and anytime try scoring friend Leka Halasima. Plus work horses Wayde Egan and prop Jackson Ford return.
A game where you’d be tempted to go with an under-the-radar Sharks, they are the form team of the competition since Origin finished with an 88% win rate. But their record against the Roosters isn’t great, and finals record less appealing.
Cronulla have won just one of their last eight finals games, including losing their last two finals games at Shark Park in 2022 and 2023. They have also lost eight Saturday finals games in a row. Last time they won a Saturday finals game was in 2016. And lost all three finals games v Roosters since 1998.
But for all their premierships recently the Roosters finals form isn’t that great. They have only won three of their last ten finals games going back to 2020. And away is pretty grim, Roosters have won only one of their last nine away finals games. But have won the last two on a Saturday including a last start finals win over the Sharks.
One outlier is the Sharks have a woeful record at Shark Park v Roosters on a Saturday – W2 L12 since 1998. But Cronulla have won six in a row at home coming into this game. Only one of those sides ended up in the top eight – Roosters. So their flat-track bully status is not helped.
The big team news is Nicho Hynes escaping punishment for a hip drop. And he’s hit form just in time to be blamed by half of rugby league for the Sharks demise. Braydon Trindall returns to take some heat off him, and Briton Nikora is in the reserves and can be sure he’ll play too. Roosters are unchanged and why would they need to be anything else.
SUNDAY 4:05 – CANBERRA v BRISBANE – CANBERRA STADIUM
FINALS RECORD: NO MATCHES SINCE 1998
An interesting clash indeed. The Broncos are in their arrogant best form of the season, obviously using special toilet water as the key. But Canberra did win the minor premiership and have spent 2025 winning in so many different ways, sticking two fingers up the critics along the way. Just as you presume Ricky Stuart likes it.
Canberra have recent form over the Broncos and Queensland sides and Sundays. Canberra have won four of their last five in Canberra v Brisbane. And four in a row on a Sunday. Canberra have lost just one of 12 home games in the regular season in 2025. Canberra have won five in a row in Canberra on a Sunday. Canberra have won five in a row in Canberra v Qld sides.
As for finals, it’s more hit and miss. For both sides.
Canberra are W5 L3 in finals as the home side and have won their last three at Canberra Stadium and are W2 L6 in finals on a Sunday, but have won the only game in Canberra on a Sunday.
The Broncos do go ok in finals, but not away from Suncorp Stadium. Brisbane have lost their last nine finals games away from Suncorp Stadium, including scoring zero points in two of their last three games. Broncos are W2 L10 away from home in finals v Sydney teams going back to 1998.
The only team news that matters is Reece Walsh. Of course it’s all about him. But reports of hobbling off from training are key. If he doesn’t play, you could argue the Broncos don’t have enough firepower to get past the solid Raiders, who know how to win. Canberra are of course playing a side that looks less like a NSW Cup team this week.
2025 NRL Finals Week 1 Stats
Answering the big questions ahead of the NRL Finals starting. Which teams have done best against their finals opponents. And so much more.
Cronulla and Roosters are the only teams without a 100% win record v one of the finals teams.
Roosters are just ahead for points scored per game against fellow finals teams.
Warriors average over eight points less per game.
Roosters have the second worst defence v fellow finals teams, with Cronulla worst.
Penrith lead the win % for finals games from 1998, 2015 and 2020. Winning a million finals games in a row helps.
FINALS TEAMS v FINALS TEAMS RECORD IN 2025
2025 NRL Round 27 Review + Finals Week 1 Preview
Here’s the best of our wrap ups of last weekend and look forward to this weekend.
Here are The Gurgler’s 2025 Italian Grand Prix Ratings – our way of rating the performances on the track without injuring our wrist or running up the back of our team mate’s car.
Our G-Power Rankings goes a little bit deeper than just points scored on the Sunday and has a slightly cooler name than most. We take on board Free Practice, Qualifying, performance in relation to teammate, fastest lap, and a few more stats that are attempting to highlight a driver outperforming the car and/or thrashing their teammate.
Normally we have a season long bunch of stats, but we’re saving that for the end of season review that will be way too long for anyone to want to read. Regardless, here is our shortened version for contractual obligations.
2025 Italian Grand Prix Race Result Summary
2025 Italian Grand Prix Ratings – Drivers
Here are the current overall standings for our Driver of the Year winner – the Martini Medal. Named in honour of one of F1’s most unsung heroes – Pierluigi Martini of Minardi fame.
We have the overall scores as they stand, plus a visual which shows the flow of each driver’s position throughout the season, plus a few points of interest below.
Here is the breakdown of the Driver of the Year points from the most recent race and the season so far. Remembering our ratings go across a whole weekend, so the race winner who may not have had a great qualifying or sprint race may not come out on top.
LATEST RACE RATINGS & DRIVER OF THE YEAR UPDATE
2025 Italian Grand Prix Ratings – Teams
This is essentially using the same drivers stats but in reverse for the worst score, but taking out anything that is a H2H between the drivers.
And our annual award focuses on the other end of the grid, highlighting the worst team of the season.
Of course, the worst team of the season award needs to be named after the worst F1 team of all time. And if you want to fund out more about Andrea Moda, follow this link.
LATEST RACE & SEASON RATINGS
Here is the best of the stats from the 2025 F1 season so far. Which we admit isn’t much, but stay tuned throughout the year for more.
H2H
Here is the ultimate H2H comparison, with the overall qualifying and race measures, plus one that calculates all official sessions across the weekend.
QUALIFYING – DRIVERS
With qualifying becoming all important, here are some key stats from the season that is.
QUALIFYING – TEAM
And some Teams trends too.
FASTEST LAP
It may be a token win, so here is a token bunch of stats.
1ST LAP PROGRESS
The movers and shakers of 2025 F1 Season.
FREE PRACTICE
Some say Free Practice is a giant waste of time, and they are probably right. Regardless here is the average position for each drivers in Free Practice this season. Each round an average of all the sessions.
OTHER STATS
A few bits and pieces too good not to share.
2025 F1 Season Power Rankings – Points Explanation
Here’s how the points work this season. Essentially the perfect race (Win from Pole, Fastest Lap, thrash team mate, best in race etc) should amount to the perfect 100 points.
FIRST LAP GAINS +0.5pts per position gained -0.5pts per position lost.
CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS – 25pts to 1pt as per World Championship – Sprint Race Points added.
BEAT TEAM MATE (RACE) – 10pts (if both finish or other driver got self inflicted DNF)
FASTEST LAP – 5pts – 1pt for top five drivers.
GRID POSITION TO RACE POSITION – formula +/- relative finish to grid
BEST OF THE REST (RACE) – 5pts to 1pt – top five non Mercedes-Red Bull drivers
QUALIFYING – 20pts to 1pt – Grid Position 1 to 20.
BEAT TEAM MATE (QUALIFYING) – 5pts
BEST OF THE REST (QUALIFYING) – 5pts to 1pt – top five non Mercedes-Red Bull drivers
GREAT/GRAPE – 5pts Great 2pts Honourable Mention -2Pts Dishonourable Mention -5Pts Grape
BEAT TEAM MATE (QUALIFYING) Time Gap – Formula for % beaten team mate by
BEAT TEAM MATE (QUALIFYING) Position – 0.5 Pts for every position team mate is beaten by. 0 points for second car.
FREE PRACTICE HERO – 10Pts to 1Pt – Average Position across all three practice sessions.
WIN FROM POLE – Bonus 5 Points
WIN FROM POLE WITH FASTEST LAP – Bonus 10 Points
DNF Not Driver or Team Fault Minus 2 Points
DNF CAUSED BY DRIVER/TEAM INCOMPETENCE Minus 5 Points
SPRINT RACE POINTS – Points 8 to 1 as handed out in the sprint race.
SPRINT RACE CHANGE – 0.5 Points per change in end position to starting position.
SPRINT RACE QUAL – Points 8 to 1 as handed out in the order of qualifying 1st to 8th.
Finals are here, with the top eight teams spending the next four weeks of intense finals football with a chance to make the big dance as some call it. Talking of Leo Sayer, it’s fair to say that our 2025 NRL Finals Week 1 Tips Predictions & Stats Preview will make you feel like dancing.
Each week this season we offer up a quick preview glance for each match, throw in a bunch of barely interesting stats, and mix in a pinch of opinion, some spicy tips and you have a rugby league soup with probably more flavour than one could ever need or want. It’s all you can eat NRL stats.
2025 NRL Finals Week 1 Tips
Here are our tips for the week ahead. How did we get to here? By going through all the visuals and stats below.
MELBOURNE by 16
PENRITH by 10
ROOSTERS by 12
BRISBANE by 6
2025 NRL Finals Week 1 Tips Match Thoughts
Looking for a cheat sheet for the weekend’s upcoming games?
What about some finals stats?
Or some barely interesting facts?
Here’s as much information that we could cram into one size fits all visual.
Cronulla have won just one of their last eight finals games, including losing their last two finals games at Shark Park in 2022 and 2023.
Cronulla have lost eight Saturday finals games in a row. Last time they won a Saturday finals game was in 2016.
The Roosters have only won three of their last ten finals games going back to 2020.
Roosters have won only one of their last nine away finals games. But have won the last two on a Saturday including a last start finals win over the Sharks.
The H2H since 2020 between these sides is Sharks 3 Roosters 5. At Shark Park over that time it is two wins each.
Sharks have a woeful record at Shark Park v Roosters on a Saturday – W2 L12 since 1998.
Cronulla are the form team of the competition since Origin finished with a 88% win rate.
Cronulla have won six in a row at home coming into this game. Only one of those sides ended up in the top eight – Roosters.
Roosters are W5 L2 away from home this season on a Saturday.
SUNDAY 4:05 – CANBERRA v BRISBANE – CANBERRA STADIUM
FINALS RECORD: NO MATCHES SINCE 1998
Brisbane have lost their last nine finals games away from Suncorp Stadium, including scoring zero points in two of their last three games.
It’s one from eight away from Suncorp Stadium on a Sunday.
Broncos are W2 L10 away from home in finals v Sydney teams going back to 1998.
Canberra are W5 L3 in finals as the home side, and have won their last three at Canberra Stadium.
Canberra are W2 L6 in finals on a Sunday, but have won the only game in Canberra on a Sunday.
Canberra have won four of their last five in Canberra v Brisbane. And four in a row on a Sunday.
Canberra have lost just one of 12 home games in the regular season in 2025.
Canberra have won five in a row in Canberra on a Sunday.
Canberra have won five in a row in Canberra v Qld sides.
Brisbane have won four of their last five away from home.
2025 NRL Finals Week 1 Stats
Answering the big questions ahead of the NRL Finals starting. Which teams have done best against their finals opponents. And so much more.
Cronulla and Roosters are the only teams without a 100% win record v one of the finals teams.
Roosters are just ahead for points scored per game against fellow finals teams.
Warriors average over eight points less per game.
Roosters have the second worst defence v fellow finals teams, with Cronulla worst.
Penrith lead the win % for finals games from 1998, 2015 and 2020. Winning a million finals games in a row helps.
FINALS TEAMS v FINALS TEAMS RECORD IN 2025
2025 NRL Season Stats
The best of the stats from the season that has been so you can try and guess the rest of the season that will be.
Max Verstappen puts on a masterclass at the Temple of Speed at Monza, setting the fastest lap in history and destroying the McLarens in the race. Talking of class our 2025 Italian F1 Grand Prix Result Summary is down towards the bottom of the cruise ship of F1 reporting.
This 2025 Italian Grand Prix Result, Laps that Matter summary, Review & Ratings gives you just enough to catch up with. With just a hint of cynicism, bias, opinion and colour. The perfect bite sized review for those who couldn’t be bothered, or don’t have enough time.
Didn’t see the race live? Don’t have time to watch the whole race? Here’s where we capture the laps where stuff happened. We write these live as we go, sort of like a minute by minute for the football, but marginally more interesting.
Setting the scene –The McLarens were upset again for pole position as Max Verstappen not only takes pole position but the record for fastest lap ever. It was almost missed to show family shots in pitlane to growing frustration among F1 fans. Lando Norris will be alongside the Red Bull with Oscar Piastri in the best seat in the house if they run into each other. Ferrari would be slightly disappointed with 4th and 5th. Lewis Hamilton takes a five place penalty for a new engine. Some great performances with Gabriel Bortoleto qualifying 8th and Yuki Tsunoda making Q1 for a change. Isack Hadjar and Pierre Gasly start from the pitlane if that matters. It’s a dangerous first corner, with lots of potential for race ending disappointment. Too dangerous for Nico Hulkenberg who retires his car before the start.
GRID (Starting Order) – VER NOR PIA LEC RUS ANT BOR ALO TSU HAM
Lap 1 – Max Verstappen gets away good enough and pushes Lando Norris onto the grass and stays ahead by cutting the chicane. Norris holds onto second but Charles Leclerc nips ahead of Oscar Piastri as they bunch up behind. But not for long as a few corners later the McLaren burns around the Ferrari and retakes third. Halfway around the lap Norris calls Max an idiot via radio and perhaps the stewards agree. Verstappen in under investigation from the stewards and the Red Bull team tell Max to give up the position. Further back Kimi Antonelli wastes his best qualifying in a while by dropping to 10th, Bortoleto continues to impress and is 6th. Lewis Hamilton has gained a couple of spots in 8th.
ORDER – VER NOR PIA LEC RUS BOT ALO HAM TSU ANT
Lap 2 – Max Verstappen gives first place away to Lando Norris who is now the leader. In the process Charles Leclerc steals third again from Piastri who isn’t backing away from a fight despite his Championship lead, but worse case scenario for the title as his rival gains a place and he losses one.
ORDER – NOR VER LEC PIA RUS BOR ALO HAM TSU ANT
Lap 3 – Oscar Piastri is pushing his luck trying to retake 3rd from Leclerc, Piastri complaining about the Ferrari moving under braking. Leclerc is holding up the field a little with a bit of a train forming behind the Ferrari. Norris and Verstappen have cleared ahead by nearly three seconds
Lap 4 – Max Verstappen is in the slipstream with DRS and dives past Lando Norris into the first chicane and retakes the lead. The Red Bull sets a fastest lap once in the clear. Further back Lewis Hamilton gains another place while Piastri remains frustrated with Leclerc. He’d better hurry as they are falling well behind the top two.
ORDER – VER NOR LEC PIA RUS BOR ALO HAM TSU ANT
Lap 6 – Not before time, Oscar Piastri gets the job done on Charles Leclerc in a smooth, efficient pass into the first chicane. In the style which Oscar seems to be in all the time. Piastri is 3.6 seconds behind his team mate. By the start of the next lap, Lewis Hamilton gains another spot and is 6th.
Lap 8 – The field is starting to spread out a bit. Lando Norris is 2.5 seconds behind Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri is four seconds behind Norris. George Russell is annoying Charles Leclerc 4th place.
Lap 9 – Esteban Ocon gets a five second penalty for some bad driving. He was only pushing Lance Stroll off the track, so struggling to see why that would need a punishment,
Lap 14 – The fastest man in history Max Verstappen is certainly the fastest man in this race. He’s nearly four seconds up on Lando Norris who is another five seconds and change to Oscar Piastri. George Russell and Charles Leclerc provide the entertainment for now. But you do have to wonder if it is tactical why McLarens are dropping off the Red Bull so much.
ORDER – VER NOR PIA LEC RUS HAM BOR ALO TSU ANT
Lap 18 – Oliver Bearman makes the final official tyre stop, and rejoins last. Yuki Tsunoda pits next lap as the floodgates open. Fernando Alonso and Gabriel Bortoleto pit the lap after and the wily Alonso gets ahead with a quicker stop.
Lap 19 – Max Verstappen has extended the lead out to nearly six seconds, and it is even further from Norris to Piastri.
ORDER – VER NOR PIA LEC RUS HAM ANT SAI ALB OCO
Lap 28 – George Russell pits, going for the undercut on Charles Leclerc from fifth place. Meanwhile Liam Lawson is less undercut and more running into Yuki Tsunoda who he is battling with at the tail of the field.
Lap 29 – McLaren discuss with Lando Norris about waiting for their pitstop so they can strap on some soft tyres. Hope so, this race needs something.
Lap 30 – Oscar Piastri wakes up himself and some of the fans in Australia with a fastest lap. The top five all have a gap of six seconds between them and the car in front. Except Max Verstappen obviously.
Lap 34 – Charles Leclerc pits from 4th place. He rejoins comfortably ahead of George Russell who was on his tail before the Mercedes stopped. Leclerc has Ocon and Stroll in between him and Russell, and the very best of luck to George Russell. Leclerc sets a fastest lap on lap 36.
Lap 38 – Max Verstappen first from the lead, and rejoins behind the McLarens who are yet to stop.
ORDER – NOR PIA VER HAM ALB LEC RUS OCO STR GAS
Lap 39 – Lewis Hamilton makes his first Ferrari race pitstop and rejoins 9th, behind Lance Stroll. Enjoy. Hamilton does enjoy, not taking too long to get past Lance Stroll.
Lap 41 – Providing some light entertainment are Oliver Bearman and Carlos Sainz who clash at the second chicane for 13th. Looks like Bearman’s fault as he clips Sainz’s left rear wheel. Both spin and lose places to Hadjar. We’ll see what the stewards say though. Ten seconds for Bearman is the punishment announced later.
Lap 43 – McLarens are yet to pit, and Lando Norris is four seconds in front of Oscar Piastri. They are losing time to Max Verstappen in third who is only 13 seconds behind Norris now. So if they don’t pit soon they won’t have enough laps left to catch Max on the softest and fastest tyres. A lap later and the gap to Verstappen reduced by another two seconds.
ORDER – NOR PIA VER LEC RUS HAM OCO STR ANT ALB
Lap 45 – Albon takes Antonelli for 9th place in some classic midfield side distractions. Stewards later investigate the moves and drivers running each other off the track.
Lap 46 – Oscar Piastri pits from second. Soft tyres are on, so maybe one last chance for some action.
Lap 47 – Lando Norris pits from the lead, but his stop is four seconds longer than Oscar Piastri’s. This could be very close on track now. It is close, and advantage Piastri as he stays in front of his team mate. What an unexpected bonus for Piastri. You can feel the disappointment in Sky commentary. They discuss that Piastri is a team man, that the team have helped Piastri, bla bla bla bla. To double down, Piastri sets a fastest lap.
Lap 49 – But Oscar Piastri does do the team thing and lets Lando Norris past. If you needed any further proof at McLaren favouring Norris here it is. It’s all good though, he’s free to race him now. But smells like bs. There were no favours earlier in the season. Even Max Verstappen thinks it’s rubbish over team radio. Wonder if the Sky commentary are going to talk about hollow second places like they were about Piastri, and spend the last laps justifying for their man. Sky F1 becoming painfully pathetically Trump-like sucking up Lando Norris.
Lap 51 – Lando Norris is easing away slightly from Oscar Piastri, so will keep second.
FINAL LAP – Max Verstappen sets fastest lap on Lap 52 before signing off in style with a win for Red Bull. Like qualifying, the TV cameras only just catch him crossing the line. Maybe it was because he was a massive 20 seconds in front. Lando Norris gets second a few seconds ahead of his team mate, and reduces the Championship gap by three points.
FINAL ORDER (Across the line) – VER NOR PIA LEC RUS HAM ALB BOR ANT HAD
Here we go through the field and highlight the very best (Great) of the race, and the plodders, the over-ambitious, the out of luck, and simply hopeless (Grape).
These points get added to our Driver of the Season scores. 5 points for a great nomination, and -5 for the worst or grapest driver in the pack. Then it is +2 /-2 for honourable or dishonourable mentions.
THE GREAT-EST – MAX VERSTAPPEN
Takes pole position with the fastest lap ever in F1. Won the race with the ease we have seen him and Red Bull do so many times before this season. Another one of those weekends where you remember just how good he is.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
LANDO NORRIS – Reduces Championship gap by three points. Solid enough weekend.
OSCAR PIASTRI – Not a bad end result with third, but if he wasn’t aware of which side the bread is buttered at McLaren he is now. Wonder if he will be less courteous for the remaining races.
LEWIS HAMILTON – It’s a pretty bad season when 6th makes our better performances. But here we are for Hamilton.
ALEX ALBON – Solid points again from 14th on the grid.
GABRIEL BORTOLETO – Excellent 8th in qualifying and great 8th in the race. Solid from a rookie.
ISACK HADJAR – A great point after starting in the pitlane.
THE GRAPE-EST – SKY F1
Their heads are shoved so far up the ar$e of Lando Norris they almost forgot to commentate on the fastest lap in GP history. Note to Sky, you may keep missing key F1 moments if you need to keep wiping sh!t from your eyes. And the loss of respect for your coverage everywhere except the living room of the Norris family has plummeted btw. Their carry on, and justification of the McLaren swap in the race and telling audiences how Piastri feels and should feel is dross of the highest order, and more shame to their disgraceful bias, fast making the coverage less watchable each week.
DISHONOURABLE MENTIONS
NICO HULKENBERG – Being beaten by your rookie team mate in qualifying isn’t too bad, but being made to retire before the race starts is. Poor Hulk.
ALPINE – Slow.
LANCE STROLL – Classic Lance. Cut in Q1 in qualifying. Finished last. Will probably scour hsi way through interviewers that can still be bothered trying.
CARLOS SAINZ – Another race, another clash with a driver. This time he wasn’t blamed for it at least.
Was it a good race, loads of action, a tense ending, a surprise result or DNF, or just a big, fat, snooze-fest?
We rate the big race itself, so we know which races to go back and watch in the off season or one to simply remember the winner for the post season quiz nights.
PRE RACE ACTION (FP, QUAL, SPRINT, OFF TRACK etc) – 2 / 5
The fastest lap in GP history is exciting, although we almost missed it for a token shot od GP drivers family. No matter which driver, most F1 fans aren’t interested, and those that aren’t F1 fans wouldn’t know anyway. A little bit of love for Lewis Hamilton’s first Ferrari race was of mild interest. Would be better if he was quicker. The F2 race was great.
ON TRACK ACTION (RACE) – 3 / 10
It was quite the exciting first couple of laps with multiple position swapping in the early stages. It died off quickly once Max Verstappen got ahead of Lando Norris and became quite dull.
ANY SURPRISES? – 4 / 5
The pace of Max Verstappen and dominance of his lead over the Championship leading McLarens were quite the surprise. The late race pitstop/race swapping shenanigans was a surprise.
SEASON IMPORTANCE – 4 / 5
It looked a little Championship defining when Norris was first and Piastri 4th, but not long into the race they were 2nd and 3rd and the action slowed. But the late race team swapping smells like a convenient use of luck to help Lando Norris. Piastri may feel let down a little and he may just start extending the middle finger and win the Championship his way.
ENDING – 3 / 5
The late McLaren pit stop swap added some colour to a very grey race before.
OVERALL RATING – 16 / 30
We’ll see what Championship implications comes out of this race. But not one that will be watched over and over again.
